Senate Majority’s New “Skinny” COVID-19 Package Is a Disgrace

WASHINGTON, DC — The COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 220,000 people in the U.S. dead and 7.9 percent of the workforce without a job. To date, over 8 million people in the U.S. have become infected with COVID-19. It’s been more than 200 days since the Senate last passed a COVID-19 relief bill, but instead of taking real action to meet the health and economic needs of people in this country and across the globe, the Senate majority again forced a failing vote today on another “skinny” COVID-19 relief package — just 30 days since their last voting ruse on a bill never intended to pass.

Today’s grossly inadequate proposal not only lacked the basic health, economic, and election support people need right now— it had no chance of gaining the support needed to pass. This bill was nothing more than a stunt meant to distract people from the Senate majority’s failures on COVID-19 as they rush the illegitimate Supreme Court confirmation process of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat. Workers and families need urgent help now, not political theater and diversions.

Globally, COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million people and has magnified inequalities in health outcomes and access to care. Structural racism and centuries of underinvestment in communities of color in the U.S. have created barriers to health care that still exist today. That means Black, Latino and Indigenous people continue to suffer most from this crisis, with disproportionate rates of infection and death.

Statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president, Planned Parenthood Action Fund:

“As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to devastate communities across the country and around the world, the Senate has — yet again — barely scratched the surface of a meaningful response to this crisis. We need Congress to be bold and put the interests of people first — especially Black and Latino communities, women, and people with lower incomes who have been most impacted by this virus. Today’s vote on this inadequate bill was a cynical act of political theater meant to distract us from the Senate majority's wildly misplaced priorities as they rush to illegitimately install a new Supreme Court justice. This bill does next to nothing for the millions of people suffering — and it was never even meant to succeed. The Senate can and must pass a real relief proposal, because with every wasted moment, lives are lost.”

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Planned Parenthood Action Fund is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit membership organization formed as the advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The Action Fund engages in educational, advocacy and electoral activity, including grassroots organizing, legislative advocacy, and voter education.